


Cats and Moths, Black Under the Moonlight

by Kagame



Series: The Color Silver [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14755841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kagame/pseuds/Kagame
Summary: A boring apartment and an encounter with a pale boy inspire Kagame to try his hand at art. Takes place after chapter five of main story.





	Cats and Moths, Black Under the Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Kagame's gonna use a lot of foul language this chapter.

I had never realized how empty my apartment was before. Or that a person’s home was supposed to be filled up with things.  _ And here I thought the place was fancy because it had a table and sofa. But what the hell do I need to make it better?  _

The Nara’s had vases, low tables, and tatami mats along the floor.  _ But I didn’t like any of those things. So what else is there.  _ I was walking through Konoha when I stumbled upon a boy about my age.  _ He looks so pale.  _ He held what looked like a notebook in his lap as he furiously scribbled away.  _ What’s he doing, he can’t be writing anything with how he’s using his pencil.  _ He was sitting outside a building labeled,  **_Konoha Art Supplies_ ** . I walked up to him and looked over his shoulder to see he was creating an image of an anbu mask. It was the one that looked like a boar.

_ Paintings! They had paintings on their walls! If I could learn how to do that…  _ “Please teach me!” I blurted out. The boy, startled, turned around as I bowed my head. “Please, I wanna learn how make paintings.”

“I have better things to do with my time.” I looked up at him.  _ His voice, and his face. He’s totally devoid of feeling. Just like them.  _ He stood up and brushed past me as I stood there in the middle of the street. 

 

For the next month I would go there everyday at the same time to try and find the pale boy. He was only there a handful of times, but every time I saw him I would ask again for him to teach me. He always replied the same.  _ Maybe I need a different approach. _

I decided I’d try the store clerk,  _ if painting is art, then he should know how.  _ When I asked him, he replied with, “I can’t teach you, but I can give you some advice. All you need is practice, like that boy that comes in here. He buys supplies for drawing all the time. If you keep drawing, even if it’s bad at first, then you’ll get better.”  _ Then I guess that’s what I’ll do.  _ I bought a sketch pad, a brush, and black paint.  _ But… what do I paint? Well, I guess it has to be something I like. Something I want to see.  _

I decided to walk around Konoha, looking at everything that I passed by.  _ Dogs, no, buildings, no, people, fuck no, clouds, you don’t need to know how to draw clouds. Birds, no, snakes, no, bugs, mmmmm, maybe. Oh fuck no that’s a big ass spider! Trees, I see trees every fucking day, every fucking where. Drawing is hard, and I haven’t even gotten to the fucking drawing part yet. _

 

“How do you know what you’re going to draw?”

“I draw whatever I want to”

“Well how do you know what you want to draw?” He was silent for a long stretch of time as he continued to sketch the Hokage monument. “Are you going to say anything?”

“You’re just wasting your time. You should just give up.” I let out a sigh at his reply.  _ Of course he’d say that. Why’d I even bother. _

 

“Iruka sensei, have you ever drawn anything before?”  _ I’m desperate and you’re the only adult I know. _

He looked at me with surprise. “Well that’s certainly an interesting question. What’s brought this on Kagame?”

“I want to learn how to paint, but I don’t know what I should paint. I can’t find anything that I really like.”

“Well, part of being a shinobi is to look at things from different angles. Maybe if you look at something from a different perspective, you’ll find that something familiar can be new and inspiring.”

I perked up at his response. “Thank you sensei. That’s actually really good advice.”

 

I decided to roam the village that night, the light of the moon guiding my path through the darkened cityscape.  _ Everything does look different at night, what’s familiar has become strange and foreign. I just hope to god I don’t find another clan massacre. Cuz I do not need an anbu detail stuck to my ass.  _ The sound of meowing caught my attention. I followed the sound to a community garden. Inside there was group of black cats running through the soft dirt, chasing moths, leaping up to try and catch them.  _ This is it. It’s what I’ve been looking for. _

  
It was a few months later when I came across the pale boy again. “Thank you. I understand now. You couldn’t waste your time teaching me because you were busy improving your own skills.” He looked at me briefly before turning back to his sketchpad and ripping out one of the pages to hand to me. It was a drawing of me.


End file.
